Douglas Crabbe
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Douglas John Edwin Crabbe (b. 1948) is an Australian murderer currently detained in Darwin for a multiple murder which occurred when he rammed his 25 ton Mack truck through a hotel wall at the Inland Hotel at Yulara in the Northern Territory on August 18, 1983, killing five people and seriously injuring sixteen others. Crabbe's crime is sometimes referred to as the Mack Truck murders.
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[edit] Early life
Crabbe worked as a truck driver and began driving at the age of 14.
In February 1983 Crabbe was arrested and charged for assaulting a car load of youths at a service station near Tennant Creek. The youths were harassing the service station's console operator and also provoked Crabbe, who retaliated by jumping up and down on the bonnet of the victim's car.
On March 24, 1983, Crabbe attended a country and western function in Curtin Springs and became involved in two fights involving police.
[edit] The multiple murder
On the evening of August 18, 1983, Crabbe spent an hour at the Inland Hotel before being refused service for intoxication. Crabbe then walked behind the bar and confronted bar staff before being involved in a fight and being ejected from the premises at 12.30am.
He then walked approximately 500 metres to his parked Mack truck, and drove it to a nearby motel where he unhitched one of two attached trailers. According to witness Martin Fisher:
"Crabbe then manoeuvred the 25 ton Semi and trailer, at speed, around a blind bend, through a car park, around a minibus, turned and drove it through the Besser brick wall into the crowded bar, crushing the people there. Leaving the engine running, he then got out of the truck, smiled down at one of his victims, stepped over some bodies and ran. This was at 1.10am. It had been 40 minutes between being thrown out and driving the truck into the bar. He was captured the next morning walking out of the bush 22 kilometres away. [1]
Witnesses likened the impact of the truck hitting the hotel to that of a bomb exploding. Crabbe was 36 at the time of the murders.
[edit] Criminal trials
The criminal trial of Crabbe (R v Crabbe) was held during March 1984. Crabbe was convicted of all five counts of murder. Upon appeal to the High Court of Australia, in a significant case, the convictions were set aside and a retrial was ordered.
The second trial concluded on October 7, 1985 when a second jury returned guilty verdicts and again convicted Crabbe on all five counts of murder. Crabbe was sentenced to life imprisonment with a thirty-year minimum, backdated to August 18, 1983, the day of the murders.
He will be eligible for parole in August 2013 at the age of 66.
